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By Antony Currie
Morgan Stanley’s boss is right that investment banking is overstaffed and overpaid. The bill for traders, advisers and money managers at seven global firms needs to drop by about $30 bln, a Breakingviews calculator shows, to give shareholders a shot at decent returns on equity.

U.S. banking overhaul gets a second wind

By Agnes Crane
Two years after Dodd-Frank thudded onto desks across Wall Street, regulators are on the stump with ideas from the cutting-room floor. Fresh on the heels of the hoopla to break up banks, the Fed’s top cop is pushing to cap their size. Too big to fail clearly hasn’t been resolved.

Bumi should grit teeth and engage with Bakries

By Kevin Allison
The troubled acquisition vehicle has a rescue bid of sorts from its Indonesian backers. The Bakries would cancel their holding in return for a stake in coal assets they sold to Bumi last year. It’s awkward in every sense. But the Bumi board has to maximize value and should talk.

BOJ's conundrum is how to be more irresponsible

By Andy Mukherjee
When Japan’s central bank pioneered quantitative easing in 2001 it was the apogee of monetary adventurism. But the bar for unusual policy is set much higher today. If the BOJ wants to stay in the game, it needs to make brazen promises with a straight face – and be believed.

Executives spared prison should at least lose jobs

By Reynolds Holding
With criminal charges unlikely, watchdogs pursue financial fraud by suing the likes of Wells Fargo. But shareholders, not officers, usually foot the bill. Strong deterrence demands honchos pay, too. Banning them from executive suites might best serve corporate governance.

Wells Fargo in mortgage mire, just like the others

By Agnes Crane
Warren Buffett’s favorite bank trades at a premium to U.S. rivals, partly thanks to a carefully cultivated “not Wall Street” image. But a new government suit against the West Coast bank is a timely reminder that Wells had no trouble cooking up its own questionable home loans.

New recall narrows Toyota's recovery window

By Wayne Arnold
It may take just 40 minutes to replace the gizmo responsible for the Japanese automaker’s latest embarrassment, but with 7.4 million cars to fix, that’s 565 years of mechanic time. With the China boycott, the tsunami, and previous recalls, Toyota’s problems seem never ending.
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